The Yankees got an extra day off after they gave up waiting for the rain to go away Friday night, setting the table for a doubleheader on Saturday.  In the first game the Yankees sent Andy Pettitte it the mound.  The Yankees and Red Sox played a close game, going ten innings before the Yankees pulled off a 6-5 victory, thanks in part to a strange error.

Pettitte got the first two batters out, but Victor Martinez singled to center and David Ortiz worked a walk.  Mike Lowell, who was being celebrated in Boston as he heads into retirement, lined a ball to right field.  Nick Swisher made a horrible play (or non-play) on the ball, allowing it to get by him for a RBI double, giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

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My ESPN overlord asked me for a quick/brief snippet on what the Yankees biggest concern was heading into the playoffs. I sent Rob this (note: the version on ESPN does not include the links to the data sources):

The Yankees rotation after CC Sabathia represents the biggest decision the organization faces heading into the post-season. The logical assumption is CC-Pettitte-Hughes to start the first three games. If the Yankees start on the road, however, that puts Hughes at home for Game 3, where he’s been less effective. Starting Hughes in Game 2 would give Pettitte more time to rest his back and also allow Hughes to battle on the road. The Yanks Game 4 starter (assuming CC isn’t taking the ball again) remains the biggest issue as AJ Burnett has been awful and Javy Vazquez again proved he’s unreliable. Ivan Nova just might be the Yanks Game 4 starter, at least for the first four innings as he seems to hit the wall in the 5th. In all likelihood, however, AJ Burnett will be the Yanks’ #4 pitcher.

So let’s discuss: There’s no way AJ or Nova start a game in the ALDS, correct? CC will start Game 4 (if necessary) and Pettitte in Game 5 (if necessary). Assuming the Yanks can get to the ALCS, who is the 4th starter? Would you start Hughes at home or slot him to start on the road? What if Pettitte pitches poorly tonite, does that change things for you? Thoughts on AJ? Nova?

Let the debate begin…

The missing Game 7 film from 1960 that was found in Bing Crosby’s wine cellar has allowed some to go back and take a good look at this play, something they couldn’t do during the broadcast:

And the dramatic, and confounding, play that followed — Berra’s sharp grounder to first baseman Rocky Nelson for the second out; Mantle’s subsequent elusiveness, moxie and perhaps outright recklessness in then diving safely under Nelson and back into first as the tying run scored — would be synchronized on a split screen and then examined and re-examined. Questions would be asked, answered and asked all over again, on the broadcast.

[...]

Why, after instead stepping on first for the second out, did Nelson try to tag Mantle for the third out instead of firing home to Hal Smith, the Pirates’ catcher, for a tag play on McDougald? If he had thrown home, would McDougald have been safe or out? And what was Mantle doing so close to first base anyway? Why didn’t he immediately take off for second when Berra hit the ball on the ground?

I knew very little about this odd, crucial play, but this is a fun read. Enjoy it.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate one of the more under-appreciated Yankees of 2010, shall we? The Yankees made a splash last December when they sent Phil Coke and outfield prospect Austin Jackson to Detroit (and Ian Kennedy to Arizona) in exchange for All-Star center-fielder Curtis Granderson. While the trade was big news, it wasn’t universally praised in Yankeedom. Granderson, after all, hadn’t had a stellar season in 2009,hitting just .249/.327/.453, and the Yankees were trading one of their best prospects, and the only one ready for the majors, along with two young arms in the hope that he would have a rebound year.

Curtis effectively teased us all by taking Josh Beckett deep to the right field seats at Fenway in his very first at bat, but would ultimately struggle mightily early in the season before landing on the DL with a groin injury, and he didn’t do much better after coming back either. As late as September 1st, Granderson’s slash line sat at a very disappointing .245/.316/.434/. The next day, facing the Oakland A’s at the stadium, he went 2-3 with 2 home runs, and he hasn’t looked back. In his last 97 plate appearances Granderson has hit a robust .253/.354/.554, and in his last 50 plate appearances his line is a whopping .273/.360/.682. This has pushed his season numbers to .249/.325/.470 with 24 home runs. Not quite as high as a lot of us had hoped for at the beginning of the year, but still pretty good, especially considering where he was just a month ago.

I was one of the people who liked the trade initially, and defended it even while Granderson struggled. Kennedy and Coke were spare parts, really, and while he has some promise, Jackson is a guy that strikes out a lot and doesn’t hit for much power. Yes, he’d be cheaper than Granderson, but Granderson is cheap enough that it doesn’t really matter to the Yankees. Granderson’s ability to hit for power also plays better in the Yankees lineup.

We’ll seen soon enough whether Grandy can keep this recent hot streak going through the playoffs. If he can, the Yankees will easily be the deepest offensive team in the postseason, and much of his early season struggles will be forgotten.

MLB can’t figure out how to get instant replay refined so that all of the wonderful HD, slo-mo cameras currently in use are actually used to get the game calls correct, but we’re going to put in flyover cameras for the playoffs?

The idea is to use one camera per game that will move along cables and be controlled by operators who are supposed to keep those cameras away from fair and foul territory until pitches cross home plate.

Then the cameras, like the cable-cams that now routinely hover over NFL games, can roam over the field at altitudes ranging from about 12 to 80 feet above ground.

Says Shanks: “It’s like the football cable-cams, they can hover all over.”

I’m all for adding new points of view and perspectives, but heaven forbid a ball hits the wires or camera…

Brosnan says MLB doesn’t “have the ground rule just yet” about what would be called if that happened. And, he says the placement of cables over the field will be handled “on a case-by-case basis” to account for each ballpark’s layout. But overall, he says, MLB wants to keep cameras out of the way: “In our thirst to bring fans closer to the game, we still can’t intrude on the competition.”

If they can quickly work out the ground rules for a sky cam getting hit by a batted ball, why can’t they similarly resolve the ground rules for expanded use of instant replay, at least for this post-season?